Double, Double, Toil & Trouble
by cha0sblack
Summary: Rose and Albus arrive at Hogwarts and make some unexpected friends, along with getting into plenty magical mischief. I bring you my first fanfic- "Double, Double, Toil, and Trouble" Enjoy and please let me know how you feel about it :)
1. The Arrival

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters associated with the story**

Albus Severus Potter stepped quickly down from the Hogwarts Express onto the cement platform below. The sky above him was dark and specked with stars, glinting in the pre-Autumn sky. Albus glanced upwards at the great sapphire dome for comfort as, together with his cousin, Rosie, he was jostled forward by the crowds of older students moving away from the tracks. Albus was lost in his own thoughts. The same words kept echoing in his head.

"Not Slytherin, _not_ Slytherin..."

Albus felt as if he were going to be sick. He remembered just last night when his older brother James has taunted him, telling him if he were to be sorted into Slytherin he would be disowned. Just the thought of that terrified him. He pictured the expressions on his parents faces when they found out and it made his stomach hurt even more. Most of his family had been in Gryffindor and he admired the house far too much to consider ending up anywhere else. But was he noble and brave...?

I'm no lion-heart, he thought to himself meekly.

Albus had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed his cousin, Rosie, fighting through the crowd of people (who almost all towered over them), as he was pulled along in tow. Looking around him, at the larger figures who were shoving to maneuver through the tide of bodies, he suddenly felt vulnerable and claustrophobic. With the fear of being trampled on alight in his aching head, he grasped Rosie's hand firmly and pushed onward with all his might through the mob they had been lost in. Finally they were free and could breathe again. Rosie turned to him and smiled.

"Thanks Al!" she inhaled deeply and stretched her arms wide with a grin on her face, "I didn't think we'd ever get out of there. I was afraid they'd just step on us and keep walking. We'd be stuck to the bottoms of their shoes like Drooble's Best Blowing Gum."

She chuckled loudly at the thought. Albus didn't find it nearly as funny. In fact, it just made him start worrying again. A loud, bellowing, and yet very familiar voice cut through his dark thoughts then and he jerked his head towards the source, grinning finally.

"Firs' years, this way!", Hagrid's booming voice called over the chattering and movement of the other students. as he loomed over them in the lamplight, "Follow me, you lot!"

Albus and Rose looked to where Hagrid had broken away from the rest of the group and saw a crowd of terrified-looking younger students following in his wake. They seemed to be making their was down a dirt trail surrounded by trees. Hagrid has finally spotted them and he motioned them towards the group with his huge hands the size of trash can lids. The timid-looking first years around him ducked dramatically to avoid being swept off their feet.

"Come on you two! Don't wanna miss the feast now, do ya'?", he called at them cheerfully.

First glancing at Rosie to see her reassuring smile, they ran forward to join the rest of the group. Albus immediately felt safer as they moved along the path through the thick foliage that was now blocking out the sky. Though the lack of stars discomforted him, the feel of the other first years pressing up against each other for support helped clear some of the nauseous feelings that had taken up residence in my gut. It was clear by the looks on their faces in the half-light that they were just as terrified as he was. Maybe he was worrying himself over nothing. There seemed to be a spot of moonlight showing up ahead, which meant that they had to be nearing the end of their walk through the trees. Looking back over his shoulder, Albus realized that they had left the scarlet engine far behind. At the moment, he was wishing longingly for the comfortable compartment he'd enjoyed the last few hours. Still looking back, he realized another boy was staring at him. The boy had light blond hair and as Albus looked back at him, he gave a reassuring smile. Albus shakily returned the smile and the boy nodded up ahead. Albus turned back just as Hagrid started talking again.

"Righ', this way, you lot." Hagrid motioned again, "It's jus' up ahead now."

As they came to the end of the tree line, Albus heard several students gasp in awe and he momentarily forgot his wallowing to try to take in the sight before him.

The largest structure Albus has ever seen in his life loomed before him, separated by a dark lake, which was glinting and sparkling with the reflection of the moon and stars. The castle, full of turrets and towers jutting up, lit windows now tiny specks, like fireflies in the distance could only be Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Before they could spend more time with their mouths agape in awe of the school, Hagrid called their attention again, this time towards something, or several somethings, floating in the water ahead of them. As the first years moved forward to congregate at the water's edge, his stomach gave a definite lurch and he gripped Rosie's arm to steady himself. The things Hagrid was pointing towards were bobbing up and down on the small waves in the dark waters; a small fleet of little boats. Whatever nauseous feelings Albus had managed to dispel were back.

What fresh hell?

"Albus! Al!"

He felt someone shaking his arm. Looking to his right, he saw it was Rosie.

"Hagrid said no more than four to a boat. C'mon."

Albus glanced around and saw that most of the other students had already clambered into the boats and were now sitting huddled together with sick expressions on their faces. He caught some movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see the blond boy from a few minutes ago motioning towards them. There was only one other person in his boat; an Asian boy with dark hair and a huge smile. Rosie pulled Albus towards the shore and they both climbed in.

"That everyone?" Hagrid shouted from the boat he was filling on his own, "Good. FORWARD!"

The little fleet started to drift forward. Albus saw Rosie lean over the side to watch the ripples the boats were making in the silent, sparkling waters. As the boat gave a small lurch he pulled her back in frantically. She giggled a little at the expression on his face.

"You want to be careful," the dark haired boy said cheerfully, "I hear there's a giant squid in there."

Albus felt himself pale in the moonlight. Suddenly, all he wanted was to be back on safe, dry land again. His nails dug into the side of the little boat and he tried not to peer down into the dark lake. Meanwhile, Rosie was making conversation.

"My name's Rosie." she held out her hand and they took it in turns to shake it, "And this is my cousin Albus, or Al, as we like to call him."

Albus gave them a nervous little wave and they both smiled back at him. He felt a little ashamed at his behavior. He didn't want them to think he was a coward.

The darker haired boy waved jauntily at them, "Nice to meet you guys, I'm Alex Prewett."

"And I'm-", the blond haired boy started, but his voice was cut off by Hagrid's much more carrying one.

"You all, duck yer heads up here!"

Everyone bent their heads down as the little boats glided under the edge of the cliff and through a thick, hanging veil of ivy. Through the curtain of vines there was a lamp-lit tunnel and they all remained silent now as they sensed they were on the last leg of their journey. At long last, the little boats brought them to a rocky landing spot with ancient-looking stone steps leading upwards. The boats pulled up to dock and they all clambered out. Hagrid cast his gleaming, dark eyes around at them and they stopped when they landed on Al's terrified-looking ones. His great, bearded face broke out into a warm smile before he pointed towards the steps.

"C'mon, almos' there."

Single file, they ascended the steps and found themselves on the sprawling lawn in front of the school. As a group, they made their way forward towards the giant front doors of the castle. Many of the students were craning their necks to stare upwards at the school, trying to catch a glimpse of the tops of the towers. The moon was now behind the school, casting a gargantuan shadow on the lawn, making them all feel minuscule They finally reached the castle and crowded around the giant man who was leading them. Hagrid reached forward and knocked very loudly on the oak doors three times. They waited only seconds before one of the doors opened and a new figure stood before them.

_Hi guys, I'm new on this site and this is the first thing I've written in a long time. I'm trying to motivate myself to start writing again. If you could comment on what you liked or thought could be improved upon, it would mean the world to me. It'll also encourage me to keep writing so I can get better. Thanks so much :)_


	2. The Sorting Ceremony

_Rose's POV_

"Professor Longbottom." Hagrid said to the man standing in the doorway.

Rose's eyes widened as the familiar name entered her ears. Standing on her toes to peer over the shoulder of the blond boy from the boat, her eyes found themselves fixed upon their old family friend. Enthusiastically, she started to wave wildly, nearly knocking over said blond boy. He ducked, covering his head with his hands, staring at her with a look of bewilderment on his pale, pointed face.

"Hi Neville!" she cried out, jumping up and down on her toes.

Albus, with a beat-red complexion tried to discreetly anchor and shush his cousin while all the other students looked on in alarm, dodging Rose's swinging arms. Neville's head turned and he grinned widely at Rose's enthusiasm.

"Hi Rose, Hagrid." he said, nodding at each of them with his slightly boyish face. He then turned towards the group of huddling first-years, "Hello everyone, my name is_ Professor Longbottom_-", he looked pointedly at Rose, "I'm the Deputy Headmaster and the Head of Gryffindor House. I also teach Herbology out in the greenhouses. You are all about to be sorted into one of our four noble houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. Follow me please."

The doors swung wide to reveal a gleaming entrance hall, lit with torches in brackets on the stone walls. Craning her neck back to peer up, Rose realized the ceiling was so high, it was hidden in shadow. Before them was an incredible staircase which must have lead up to the upper floors. Rose gaped at the sight. She was just itching to see what was up those steps. But much to her disappointment, Nevil- errr...Professor _Longbottom_, led the group away from the steps and the great doors through a much smaller one off to the side. The first-years huddled together closely, casting nervous looks around them. Professor Longbottom turned to face them all once again. Rose noticed that Hagrid hadn't followed them into the small, slightly cramped chamber, for which she was thankful. Beside her, Albus was shaking slightly. She gripped his hand and he gave her a feeble smile.

"Welcome, everyone, to Hogwarts." Professor Longbottom held out his arms, smiling, "In a few minutes, I'll lead you through the doors to the Great Hall for the start-of-term banquet. But before we can begin the feast, you will be sorted into your houses. As I mentioned, the four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own, respective qualities, as do you all. We try to match those qualities to sort you into the house that best fits you. Your house will then become something of your family. You will earn points for your achievements and stand fit to lose them for any misdemeanors. At the end of the year, whichever house has collected the most points will win the honor of receiving the house cup. I wish you all luck and know that you'll be good representatives of our school and your houses.

"Now, I ask you all to remain here for a moment while I attend to something and then I'll return to lead you into the great hall. I might mention," he added, smiling sympathetically at them, " that the sorting ceremony takes place in front of the entire school and they'll watch you be sorted one by one, so...prepare yourselves."

Rose turned her head in time to see Al's knees almost give way. She sighed, shaking her head. She couldn't carry him through the hall. He'd have to get up the courage to do it on his own.

Professor Longbottom exited the room and as soon as the door closed, the other new students began to panic.

"How do they sort us?" one girl with dark pig-tails asked frantically to the boy standing next to her.

"How should _I_ know?" the boy asked, wide-eyed, "I'm a muggle-born. I didn't know about any of this until recently."

"I've heard you have to fight off creatures." one voice said.

"Great..." said another, "I _knew_ I should've read some of those stupid textbooks..."

Rose looked at Al.

"How do you think they do it?" she asked, "My mum and dad wouldn't tell me."

"I don't know." Albus replied, turning all sorts of shades of green, "My parents wouldn't tell me either, so I asked James. He said we had to sing and dance in front of the entire school. I'm fairly certain he was just teasing me though..."

"That's rubbish." a boy standing near them scoffed, "_I_ heard it had to do something to do with trying of hats."

Rose turned on him defensively as Al focused on his own feet, blushing.

"Oh, and _that_ doesn't sound like bloody rubbish, does it?" she growled with narrowed eyes.

The boy opened his mouth angrily to retort but was interrupted by Professor Longbottom's return.

"We're ready for you now. Please form a line and follow me. Good luck everyone."

He led the group out of the room into the entrance chamber again, away from the stairs towards a huge set of double doors Rose had somehow failed to notice. The doors swung open to reveal one of the most amazing sights Rose had ever seen in her life.

The Great Hall was fantastic. Incredible. Rose felt her jaw drop and her eyes bulged out of their sockets as she tried to take in the image. All around her were the heads of students, all turned towards the group of frightened first-years. The older students were seated at four long tables which she assumed were sorted by the four houses. At the front of the enormous room there was another long table where all the teachers appeared to be sitting. Floating above the heads of everyone were thousands upon thousands of lit candles and further up still was the most amazing part of all. The ceiling high above them was no ordinary ceiling. Rather than being made of stone, like the rest of the castle, it seemed to open up to the heavens. Currently, it matched the night sky outside in a dark indigo speckled with stars. Happily, she realized, looking to her right at her cousin's relieved face, that this would be of great help to Albus. Ever since they were children, he had been in love with stargazing.

The line continued to move forward and then came to a halt before the staff table. Peering around the bodies in front of her she saw everyone's eyes were now fixed on a truly unordinary looking sight; an old, filthy looking pointed hat seated upon a stool. The boy from earlier who had scoffed at them turned to stick his tongue out at her. She responded by shaking her fist at his smirking face. It seemed like they were waiting for nothing, but then, as soon as she was beginning to lose interest, a large tear near the brim opened up and the thing suddenly began to sing.

As astonished as Rose was at this, she was even more astonished when her dear cousin jumped in fright and toppled backwards onto her, sending the back half of the line sprawling. As she wiggled out from under Albus and pulled him to his feet, Rose realized that all of the attention had turned from the hat to the two of them.

Seeing as her cousin looked as if he might faint, she pushed him back in line and gave some quiet, hurried apologies to the annoyed students behind her. Rose held out her hand when she realized the boy behind her had been the blond one from the journey there and helped him to his feet. He looked viably shaken but nodded politely at her, smiling a little. Maybe she'd made a new friend. He seemed likable enough.

Apparently, in all the confusion, the hat had continued to sing, despite the fact that everyone's attention was focused elsewhere. Turning back towards the front, Rose realized it was nearing the end of its song. Before she had been vaguely interested in what it had to say, but now she had begun to worry about what came next.

The faded, old hat finished its message and bowed to all the tables to an initially scattered applause. It then became still.

What happens next? Rose wondered impatiently, bouncing on her toes. She looked at Neville's face as he stepped forward and wondered why he was giving the gross old hat such fond looks. He was holding a rather long roll of parchment.

"I'm going to call all your names." he said to the line of first-years, "When I do, I want you to step forward and put the hat on to be sorted into your houses."

He looked down at the parchment to read the first name, "Anson, Joey!"

The tall boy who's name had been called stumbled forward and, shaking slightly, put the hat over his head. After a minute, the hat yelled out-

"RAVENCLAW!"

At the table second from the left everyone stood up and cheered and Joey practically ran to them to get out of the spotlight.

On it went and Rose realized that her cousin would be going up in front of the school before her. Immediately she felt sorry for him and reached forward to grip his sweaty hand in hers reassuringly. He returned the pressure.

She wasn't paying much attention to the others now. For the first time, Rose Weasley felt nervous. She felt nervous for herself and for her cousin. What if she ended up in Slytherin? What if she and Al didn't end up in the same house? Suddenly, she heard a name that made the hair's on the back of her neck prickle.

"Malfoy, Scorpius!"

In disbelief, Rose stared as the blond boy who'd been in line behind her walked forward, head held high. The hall was completely silent. Inwardly, Rose was filled with rage. She'd heard about that family and what they'd done.

The hat sat on the pale boy's head for several minutes. Rose hadn't noticed any of the others taking this long and she wondered what was holding it up. Maybe his evilness had broken it, she thought darkly. Then-

"SLYTHERIN!"

As the table to the far right erupted Scorpius Malfoy got up and walked slowly over, looking rather disappointed What was with that kid?

After several more names, they were getting further down in the alphabet. Rose knew that poor Al's turn was coming up soon and she felt horrible for him. Sure enough...

"Potter, Albus!"

Professor Longbottom's mouth twitched with a smile as whispers swept through the crowd. Albus somehow managed to make his way up to the stool and, shaking and drenched in sweat, slid the hat over his head.

For several minutes her cousin's face was hidden by the filthy, frayed wizard's hat. Rose didn't understand what was taking so long. She couldn't stand the suspense. She just knew her cousin could make it into Gryffindor. But in front of her, Albus's knees were shaking almost uncontrollably. Professor Longbottom was looking slightly worried and confused, which didn't help in reassuring her. Then came the one answer no one was ready for.

"SLYTHERIN!"

No.

There was no way, Rose thought. She must have misheard.

The entire hall let in a collective gasp. Then there was complete silence.

Her cousin just sat there for several more seconds, on that stool with the hat still on his head. Professor Longbottom, wearing a large frown on his boyish face for the first time that night, reached over and lifted the hat off of Albus's head.

Al's face was sheet-white. Looking terrified and disbelieving, he pulled himself off of the stool and trudged, as if being sent to the gallows, over to the Slytherin table to climb, sill shaking into the seat next to Scorpius Malfoy.

There was no way.

Rosie was angry. The hat had cheated him. Her cousin didn't belong with those stupid snakes. All of their family had been in Gryffindor. How could he end up in bloody Slytherin? It was supposed to be full of evil people.

Narrowing her eyes at the hat, which was currently sitting on Alex Prewett's head, she decided she'd ask it herself. Rose Weasley had a bone to pick with that bloody thing. Who did it think it was?

She watched, fuming, as Alex was sorted into Gryffindor and the rest of the line quickly disappeared. She didn't take in any of the other names but continued to glare at the hat, hoping it could feel her fury. Then, at long last-

"Weasley, Rose!"

More whispering, but she didn't care. Dashing forward and smashing the mangy thing down on top of her fiery red hair, everything became dark.

"Oh?" came a small voice inside of it, "A Weasley. I have to sort more of you? I know just what to do with you."

What, she thought angrily, you gonna put _me_ in Slytherin too?

"Aye?" whispered the voice, "You're angry about your cousin? He belonged where I placed him. In time you'll see. But until then, let's put you in GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat yelled the last word for all the hall to hear. But Rose wasn't done with it yet.

No, she thought, NO! You're wrong about Al!

But the hat was silent now. Rose felt it being tugged off her head and the light of the hall returned, but she jumped off the stool and spun to face the lifeless-looking hat.

"No, dammit!" she yelled at it and the clapping stopped, "I'm not done with you! You're wrong about my cousin! Who the bloody hell do you think you are? You're just a goddamn hat and everybody knows it-"

At that moment, Professor Longbottom rushed her off to the Gryffindor table across the hall. She continued to yell insults at the still object and shake her fist around Neville, but still the hat was silent. Professor Longbottom ushered her onto the bench in between her cousin, James, and that Alex Prewett, but Rose was still infuriated. She tried to get back up but James held her back.

"Rose Weasley," Neville whispered to her angrily, "You _will_ sit there, and you _won't_ get up until the feast is over, do you understand me? Your behavior is disgraceful. Your parents would be ashamed of you. Stay there and behave, _do you understand me_?"

"Yes, _sir_!" she spat out and he nodded and returned to the front of the hall for the rest of the sorting. No one was paying attention though. They all had their eyes fixed upon Rose. She made sure to glower back at them.

"Bloody hell, Rose!" James whispered at her and she prepared herself to punch him if he reprimanded her, "What happened with Al?"

Surprised, Rose turned to look at her older cousin, who, for once, had a serious expression on his usually mischievous face.

"I don't blame you," James continued, "I almost did the same thing myself. What in the world happened? I was only joking when I told him he'd end up there because I thought there wasn't any chance he would."

"I don't know." Rose replied gruffly. She still had a few choice words for that stupid hat.

The sorting ceremony appeared to be done now though and it, along with the stool, were removed from the hall. A woman who was now withering somewhat with age, but who looked stern and still very able stood up and began to speak.

"Welcome, students, to another year at Hogwarts. Before we begin the feast, Mr. Filch and I wish to remind you all that there should be no magic whatsoever used in the corridors between classes. I also wish to state to all new, and somewhat older students-" I thought she may have glanced towards James at this and I saw him grinning widely now, "-that the forest outside the school is strictly forbidden. If it is found that you have entered it, you will lose house points and find yourself in detention, is that understood?"

The entire hall was dead silent as they listened to the tall old woman dressed in emerald green. Some students nodded hurriedly at her when she asked the question. She certainly commanded a presence. Seemingly satisfied, the woman spoke again, this time with a small smile on her pursed lips.

"If so, then you may now begin the feast."

Rose was straining without avail to find Albus at the Slytherin table when something happened to divert her attention. All the dishes on the tables which had before been empty were now piled with food. Stomach grumbling, Rose decided that she could turn her attention away from her cousin for a few minutes to eat something. On either side, James and Alex were digging into their plates. Her cousin, James was in his third year already and seated on the other side of him was her other cousin, Fred, who was in the same year. The two were inseparable and lived to cause havoc and mayhem wherever they went. It didn't help probably that her uncle George, Fred's father, owned a joke shop which her mischievous cousin had practically grown up in. Rose piled food onto her plate and dug in. James was now talking to Fred, so she turned her attention to Alex on her right.

"Food's pretty good..." she said through a stuffed mouth.

"Yeah," replied Alex, looking slightly scared of her but was too busy cramming food in his mouth to care, "I didn't really realize how hungry I was until now. I was absolutely terrified during that sorting ceremony. It really took the energy out of me. I'm really glad I ended up her though."

At the look on Rose's face he added, "Really sorry about your cousin though. I understand why you're upset. He seemed really nice, even though he was so shy. That Malfoy kid seemed really cool too. I don't know what happened. Maybe Slytherin isn't so bad...?"

Rose scoffed at this through her full mouth, spraying food everywhere and earning her looks of disgust from those seated close.

"Yeah right, Slytherin's are bloody evil. No way can they be good. My cousin doesn't belong there."

Alex shrugged at this and continued eating. The feast went on and Rose talked to a few people at the table who didn't seem too frightened of her. The food was delicious, but what she really wanted was to talk to her cousin. She knew he couldn't be enjoying himself over at the other table. They made their way through dessert and finally, the old woman, who turned out to be a Professor McGonagall dismissed them for the night. As Rose was getting up to find her cousin though, she heard her name being called. It was the old bat herself. She instructed one of the older students to wait and walked over to tower over Rose with a very stern look on her face.

"Rose Weasley, I am appalled at your behavior earlier."

She did feel vaguely ashamed at this point, but not enough to take back what she'd done. Rose held her gaze defiantly.

"Sorry, Professor." Rose said, not really meaning it.

"As well you should be. "she replied, "I expect you to restrain yourself from any future outbursts or _you_ can expect to find yourself in detention, which would be a discredit to your house. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Professor." Rose was now looking at her feet, all pride once felt fleeing her quickly.

"Good. I expect you to behave from now on. You may go. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Professor."

Rose followed the Gryffindor prefect, along with all the other first-years in her house, out the double doors and up the marble stairs she had been so curious about earlier. Now she didn't care. Albus and the Slytherins had been gone by the time they had left and it was all her fault.

They were led through corridors lined with paintings which whispered among themselves as the small group passed by and passed through a couple of different hidden passageways. Rose felt very tired all of a sudden as she found herself dragging her own body up many flights of stairs. It seemed like the walk would never end when finally, they came to a corridor that led nowhere. Instead, there was an enormous painting of an extremely large woman in a silky pink dress.

"Password?" she asked, looking down upon the little group.

"Venemous Tentacula." the older boy answered curtly.

The woman's portrait swung forward and Rose saw that there was a large hole in the wall, which they all clambered through to find themselves in what she was assuming was the Gryffindor common room. It's coziness just made her feel more sleepy and she ached to sink into a bed and forget her troubles for a while. The prefect pointed the few girls towards one stairway leading up and she led the group as they climbed and eventually found themselves in a comfy, circular room with five four-poster bed,s complete with heavy scarlet curtains hanging.

Rose Weasley crashed onto the mattress, still dressed in her school uniform, forgetting to draw her curtains and closed her eyes. Somewhere in the castle, her cousin and best friend of all her life was probably laying wide awake, scared and uncertain, with his enemies sleeping close.

Poor Al...she thought sadly to herself. And then, Rose Weasley dropped into dreams she wouldn't be able to remember in the morning.

_If you've gotten this far, then thanks for reading! :) It means a lot. I hope you liked it. If not then tell me how to improve. I'd really appreciate reviews! Thank you!_


	3. The First Day

Rose woke the next morning to a hand gently shaking her shoulder. She cracked open an eyelid and saw the blurry outline of a person standing above her. Opening her eyes fully, it became apparent that it was one of the girls who shared her dormitory. Rose hadn't bothered to remember any of their names last night. She'd been too upset.

Upset...

She sat up with a start, almost making the other girl jump out of her skin in surprise. She'd just remembered why she'd been so upset the night before.

"Dammit Al!" Rose yelled, slamming her fists down onto the mattress of her four-poster.

The other girl took several paces back, wearing a look of shock and bewilderment. Really, it wasn't like she was going to bite. But let her think what she wanted. Rose needed to speak with her cousin.

"Hey." she turned to look at the other girl, figuring she may as well acknowledge her since she would need her assistance, "Could you show me down to the big room from last night? Is that where they're all having breakfast?"

The girl looked confused, "Er...you mean the '_Great Hall_'?"

"Yeah, whatever..."

"Um...yes, that's where the other girls said they were going. We missed them though. I decided to stay behind to wake you. No one deserves to be late their first day." She gave a feeble smile, as if doubting her own words.

Rose felt a tinge of guilt at this. Did the girl really feel it would have been better to leave her? She supposed she hadn't been very polite. Without Al by her side to moderate her, she tended to glaze over pleasantries.

"Uh...thanks for waiting. Sorry I scared you. I have a lot on my mind. Wanna help me find my way down to the um..._Great Hall_? I don't remember anything from the walk here."

The other girl smiled in earnest this time, "Sure. Lucky for you, I have a photographic memory."

The two made their way out of the dormitory. Rose was halfway to their destination before she realized she hadn't bothered to tidy herself up before they'd left their room. She was still in her robes from last night and they were crumpled from having been slept in. Her curly red hair was untamable at best and she judged it probably wasn't helping paint a very flattering picture of her. She also realized that she still didn't know her companion's name.

"Hey uh...I forgot to ask...sorry, but what's your name?"

"Kitty Spence." she replied immediately, as if she'd been waiting the whole time for this question to pop up, which...come to think of it, made perfect sense.

"Oh. Cool. I'm-"

"Rose Weasley. I know."

"How do you know?"

The girl laughed, "Rose, after last night's display, _everybody's_ going to know your name."

Rose was surprised to find herself laughing too. She supposed she had looked like a nutcase last night. Al would probably scold her when she finally found him.

"Uh...Kitty? Could I call you 'Cat' instead?" she asked. Then not wanting to appear any more rude she added, "Not that 'Kitty' is a bad name, it's just that...I don't know...um..."

Kitty's face lit up, "No, Rose, that's a good idea! I like it; Cat. My name always made me feel like a little kid or something. Can I introduce myself to people as that?"

"Cool by me." Rose replied, glad she had taken to the nickname.

"We're here!", Cat said and Rose looked around.

They were indeed in the entrance hall from the night before. Off from this room was the Great Hall, where they could see through its open doors hundreds of students conversing with each other and eating their breakfast. During their conversation, Cat had somehow managed to steer them here, through tapestries and odd doors and over staircases that had moved under their feet and tried to deposit them on other landings. This girl is good, Rose thought. Too bad she wouldn't be able to find her way back now. At first Rose had tried to keep track of where they were going, but in the end she couldn't remember and had to rely on Cat's excellent memory and sense of direction. Ah well...she could figure out the route later.

"Wow..." Rose smiled, "Thanks!"

"No problem. Want to sit by me at breakfast?"

"Um...sorry, I have to go talk to someone at the Slytherin table. Thanks though!"

"Your cousin?" Cat asked.

"How did you know...?"

"Rose..." Cat laughed again, moving off in the opposite direction, towards the Gryffindor table, "After last night, _everyone_ knows, remember? See you later!"

Rose smiled and waved and then made her way over to the table seated beneath the emerald banners. She quickly scanned the rows of students until she found Albus, sitting at the very end of the long bench, next to the blond Malfoy boy. Hurrying over, she called his name and waved. As she approached, she saw that there were three Slytherin girls seated by them that kept stealing glances at Al and giggling. Rose made sure to scowl at them on her way over. Her cousin noticed her approach and smiled widely.

"Hi, Rosie!", Al waved and the Malfoy boy nodded.

"'Hi Rosie'? That's it? Not, 'Save me, Rosie!' or anything like that? Come on Al, after breakfast, let's go talk to McGonagall and ask to have you re-sorted. It's obvious you-"

"But Rosie..." said Al, looking confused, "I actually like it here. The boys in my dorm are really cool and nice to me. Well...all except Montague, but otherwise fine. Scorpius and I are getting along fine! We even support the same Quidditch team! Isn't that-"

"Oh, bloody brilliant!" Rose scoffed, reaching up to grab chunks of her hair, "Alright, I get it. They brain-washed you, right? You!", she rounded on Malfoy furiously, "What did you do to my cousin? Was it a potion you slipped into his drink? Or did you use the Imperius Curse? If you don't tell me, I swear I'll clobber you in front of this entire hall!"

Malfoy looked disdainfully up at Rose, as if he had come to the conclusion that she was a lesser being whom he had no more desire to associate with. This only made Rose angrier.

When he didn't answer, she yelled, "Well?!"

"I'm not going to grace your rantings with an answer." he sniffed, and then turned his pale, pointed face away from her with his nose up in the air.

For a moment Rose was speechless. Was he really going to ignore her...? Then the shock wore off and she was angry again. Let's see how long he could ignore her when she-

"Rose Weasley!" came a voice from behind, accompanied by a tug on the neck of her robes, which had just stopped her from diving on Malfoy and pummeling him into the bench he was perched on.

Rose looked up into the face of her parent's old friend, Neville. He was wearing a look of exasperation.

"Yes, _sir_?"

"Can I have a word with you, Rose?"

"Of course, sir." she said innocently, not budging from the spot.

"Privately, please?" Professor Longbottom pointed a few feet aside, looking unamused.

Reluctantly, Rose shuffled off after him as they walked in the direction of the Entrance Hall. Finally, when he had judged they were out of ear shot of the other students, they stopped outside the open doors of the Great Hall. Then he turned on her, looking unhappy.

"Rose?"

"Yes?" she crossed her arms and looked away.

"Don't give me that. You're not five years old anymore. I knew you then, remember? You need to look at me and act your age, please."

Looking down at her own crossed arms, she realized with a feeling of shame, that he was right. This was exactly the stance she had always taken when she'd been angry and unwilling to listen to whoever was scolding her. She looked up into Neville's face and saw he was smiling a bit. Rose sighed and dropped her arms to her side and smiled back. Once again, she'd let her emotions get the better of her.

"That's better!", Neville grinned in earnest now, "Thank you, Rose. I know how difficult it must be for you. I admit I was shocked when Albus was sorted into Slytherin aswell." he looked a bit less happy now, "But that house is different now, do you understand? Both of your parents were in the war and so they had reason to feel animosity against them, but it's not like that anymore. I'm guessing your father has told you a thing or two about how our two houses had fueded while we were here, but it's changed. For the better, okay? But you're at school now Rose. And that means you have to start following the rules. I am a professor you know. And I'm the head of your house. If you don't stop losing your temper, I'm going to have to take action."

"Yes, sir." Rose looked at her feet again.

She didn't want to cause trouble for Neville. That was the last thing she wanted, in fact. He'd always been like one of her many uncles while she was growing up and she could remember asking, as a small child, for him to bring odd plants for them to see. Ones that levitated, ones that tried to grab hold of you as you walked by, and ones that sang and danced. Those were good times. She'd been schooled at home and had never been in a place other than her family's houses where there were rules to follow. She supposed she understood where he was coming from. But one thing was really troubling her...

"Neville?" she asked, and he looked like he had to stop himself from correcting her, "Why is it that Al is suddenly all chummy with that Malfoy kid? I heard about all the things he did to Al's dad when they were in school. Is Malfoy trying to trick Al?"

"Rosie...people aren't always like their parents, okay? Give him a chance."

"Okay, sir." she replied, unsatisfied with his answer.

The students in the Great Hall were starting to flood out of its doors now. Apparently breakfast was over and it was time to go to class. Rose realized that she had no idea what classes she had or where she was supposed to be going. Neville handed her a sheet of paper with a grin.

"That's your timetable, Rose. I figured you'd be needing it. Your first class is charms. That's up on the third floor. Go get your bag first though. You seem to have forgotten it in your mad rush down to yell at Malfoy." he laughed and started to move off into the crowd, "Good luck, Rose! I'll see you in class tomorrow. Behave yourself!"

He disappeared into the horde of students and Rose looked around. Ahead of her she spotted her new acquaintance, Cat. Realizing she'd need help getting back to the dorm to grab her books, she dashed over to her and tugged on her robe. Cat turned around and looked at her.

"Hi Rose, how'd it go?"

"Um, I'll tell you in a bit. Look...I need your help again..."

"The charms class is up on the third floor, Rose. I asked one of the older students."

"Uh...no, that's not quite it. I kind of forgot something..."

Cat looked her up and down, confused at first. Then she realized what was missing.

"Oh Rose..." she groaned, "Where's your bag? Didn't you bring it before we left?"

"No..." Rose grimaced, "I was so worried about getting here to talk to Al that I forgot. Can you _please_ help me again? I_ really_ need it."

"Okay..." Cat sighed, reaching for Rose's arm so she could pull her along through the crowd, "We have to hurry."

Together, they fought their way through the sea of students and raced up staircase after staircase to reach their common room. There were only a few older students there. Rose rushed up to the dormitory and threw everything she thought she needed into her bag and hurried back down to where Cat was waiting. The last thing she needed was to be late her first day. She especially didn't want to make Cat late on her account. Together, they flew back down towards the third floor. It seemed they were going to make it. All was going well. Until...

"Argh!"

Out of nowhere, the step beneath Rose's foot disappeared. One of her legs went through the floor and the other was left kneeling, holding her weight at an awkward angle. She felt herself sliding downward and, panicking, swung her arms around, reaching for anything she could grab onto. Just as she felt herself slipping into whatever abyss lay beneath, someone else's hand gripped hers. It was Cat. She tugged and pulled on Rose's arm and eventually, Rose found herself in a position where she could lift herself out. Feeling exhausted from the terror, she rolled herself down the last few stairs and onto the landing, far away from the hole she'd just been stuck in. Cat collapsed down beside her, eyes wide, looking completely horrified.

"Rose, are you okay?" she gripped Roses's arm.

"Uh...yeah. Thanks to you, mate. Merlin's pants..._what the bloody hell was that_!?"

"I don't know, Rose." Cat shook her head and looked back at the staircase, "That was scary. Look at the thing. All the steps look like they're there. It's like there's a ghost one."

Rose felt her heart rate finally beginning to return to normal. She put her hands on her head and tugged on her wild, red hair.

"Blimey...we have to watch out for these things now. Help me remember this stupid stairway."

"I have a photographic memory, remember? And believe me, this event is burned into my memory forever. Oh uh...Rose! We're late! Do you realize what this means? We're horribly late! Quickly! We need to find Charms!"

With that, Cat sprang to her feet and grabbed Rose's hand. Pulling her along behind, they made their way through the corridors back down towards the third floor. Every time they came to a staircase, Cat would quickly test each step before she put her weight on it. Rose found herself, once again, relying on her new friend to guide her to where she needed to go. This time, however, she was being dragged along, stumbling over her own feet and feeling as if her arm was about to be yanked from its socket.

"Here!" Cat exclaimed as she made her way towards an old oak door with a heavy handle.

She opened it and led Rose in. Before them, lay a class already in session. By the looks of the students present, they had this class with the Ravenclaws. At the front of the room was probably the oldest, smallest man she'd ever seen in her life. He was the size of a child and had to stand on a stack of books behind his desk in order to be seen.

"Why hello there!", the little, aged man squeeked, "Welcome to Charms! I'm Professor Flitwick! Your names?"

"Uhhhh...", Rose realized she'd been standing there with her eyes practically falling out of her head, "Rose Weasley. And this is Cat...errr, Kitty, sorry."

"Ah! Another Weasley! Good to have you, good to have you. Now please, take your seats."

They sat down at the front (all the seats in the back were taken). Professor Flitwick went on to explain Charms class and all that it entailed. The class was  
disappointed when they learned that they wouldn't be learning magic their first day. Instead they had been given homework. They were to read up on the levitation spell; _Wingardium Leviosa_. At this, all the Ravenclaws in the class practically pounced on their quills and began scribbling away, probably making reminders and then three or four other reminders for those reminders. Rose scoffed at them. She could remember. If not, it was only the first homework assignment.

When Charms was over, Rose and Kitty put their books away and pulled out their timetables, moving through the crowd in the corridor.

"Next we have Potions..." Cat said, frowning slightly, "It's with the Slytherins."

She glanced quickly at me, taking in my expression and trying to analyze what action I'd take next.

"Good!" I cried, "Where is that?"

Cat looked at me wearily, "Down in the dungeons. But please, tell me you aren't going to start any more fights with that Malfoy boy. I don't want to end up in detention, and I'd rather you didn't either."

"I can't make any promises. I will, however, make an attempt."

Cat sighed. Apparently that wasn't the answer she'd been hoping for. She motioned me down the hallway.

"C'mon then, let's go to class. I asked a Gryffindor prefect earlier how to get to Potions. She was a rather stern looking girl. I almost would have preferred finding it myself."

"Oh." I laughed, "That was probably my cousin, Lucy. She and I don't get along very well."

"I wonder why..." Cat muttered under her breath.

"What's that?"

"Nothing..."

Together, they made their way down, through the halls and down more staircases. When they got to the Entrance Hall, Cat lead her to a set of stairs which she hadn't noticed the previous night. They climbed down those too, and as they did, Rose swore she could feel the tempurature drop with each step. At the end of the curving, stone staircase was a darkly lit hallway. This too was paved with stone, and there was a large group of students congregated there. Rose noticed that not all of them were from her house.

Slytherins, she thought.

Standing off to the side were Al and that Malfoy boy. It was easier to search for the boy's pale face and white blond hair in that darkly lit corridor than Al's black hair. She and Cat approached cautiously. Al looked at her uncertainly, as if he was wondering if she were explode again.

"Hi!" Cat waved, at the two, breaking the awkward silence, "I'm Kitty Spence. You can call me Cat though. You're Rose's cousin, aren't you?"

Al nodded, looking relieved at the fact that I'd found a sane companion.

"I'm Albus," he replied, "Albus Potter. And this is Scorpius Malfoy. He's-"

"Potter?" Cat gasped, "Like...Harry Potter? Are you related?"

Al and Rose looked at each other, confused.

"Yes," Rose said, "That's his dad. Why? Have you heard of him? He's an auror, you know."

"Yes, of course I know! Hasn't he ever told you?! He-"

"Welcome, students!", came a loud, cheerful voice.

They all turned to see another ancient-looking teacher. This one looked very different from Professor Flitwick though. Instead of being tiny, he was quite the opposite. He had a large, round belly that poked out from the folds of his robes. On his face, he sported a rather large, bushy mustache. All Rose could see was a jolly walrus dressed in teacher's robes, greeting them.

"I am Professor Slughorn, the Potions Master. Welcome, first years! Come on into the classroom now."

The walrus-man stood clear of the doorway to allow them all to pass, gesturing towards the tables.

"Take a seat, take a seat!" he cried enthusiastically, "Three to a cauldron, please!"

"Three to a cauldron..." Rose frowned, "But that means one of us will have to sit somewhere else."

"You sit with them, Rose." Cat offered, "I'll sit with Alex and Scott over there."

"_Who_?" Rose asked, confused.

"Honestly, Rose!" Cat laughed, "You really do need to learn everyone's names! Don't worry, they're in our house."

She walked off to sit with two Gryffindor boys. Rose recognized one of them as the dark haired, Asian boy who had been in their boat the night before. The other was somewhat burly looking and was making odd motions with his hands as he chattered excitedly to his friend. It appeared they were discussing Quidditch. For a minute, Rose itched to join in. She loved those types of discussions and never missed an opportunity to talk about the Chudley Cannons, even though they were bottom of the league. She felt someone pull on her arm as Kitty walked away.

It was her cousin.

"Rose, c'mon" he said and pulled her to a table towards the back of the room.

Malfoy followed.

"Good going, Malfoy." Rose snapped, "Way to be a gentleman, making Cat leave and all. Thanks a lot. You could have gone to sit with one of your Slythein pals over there, couldn't you?"

"I am sitting with my 'Slytherin pal', dimwit." Malfoy rebutted.

"_What_ did you just call me?!"

"And for that matter," Malfoy continued, with an unpleasant sneer on his face, "You could have been the one who acted like a gentleman and left."

Rose laughed condescendingly, "Is that _really_ the best you could do? Calling me a man? Didn't daddy teach you any better insults? Probably didn't want to waste his time on you-"

"_What did you say_?! You better watch it! Or I'll-"

"Run to daddy, rich boy?"

Scorpius's retort was lost as Slughorn made his way to the front of the class and addressed them.  
"Right! Now, my young potioneers, pull out your copies of _Magical Drafts and Potions_, by our wonderful Mr. Arsenius Jigger, and let's get to work on reading the introduction. How about you start us off, Ms. Weasley. You can speak loudly when you want to."

He winked at Rose to make sure she knew he was joking. Rose started off reading the first page of the introduction. She read, but didn't take in many of the words. She was too busy mulling angrily over the situation they'd found themselves in. To her left, Scorpius kept shooting her disgusted looks as he sat over his textbook, clearly fuming. Albus sat in the middle, acting as the barrier between them, staring hard at his textbook. Rose just wanted this lesson to be over.

At the end of class, Slughorn assigned them more homework. This time, only a couple of students in the room bothered to write it down.

******************  
Cat and Rose sat together at lunch, but didn't talk much at first. Rose was still fuming and she stabbed the food on her plate with her fork using great vigor. Cat and a couple of the Gryffindor boys watched her warily.

"That Malfoy boy got your wand in a knot?", one of them asked.

Rose looked up. It was the burly one from Potions.

"I'm Scott, by the way. Scott Wood. You're Rose Weasley, aren't you?"

"Wood?" Rose perked up, forgetting her bad mood, "Like Oliver Wood, the keeper?"

"Yes!" he cried, excitedly, "He's my dad! I can't believe you've heard of him. He's been out of the league for a few years now and well...no offense of anything, but most girls I've met aren't interested in Quidditch."

Rose waved this statement aside with her fork in hand, "None taken. That's incredible though! Your dad was great! Puddlemere United is one of my favorite teams. My dad's a big Chudley Cannons fan-Hey!" she cried defensively, as Scott pulled a face, "This year for sure! They won't finish last this year!"

Scott repressed a laugh, "Uh...sure they won't. They've finished last for as long as I can remember."

Rose waved this aside too, "This year for sure. They finally ditched that bloody keeper of theirs, Fannin. He was really bringing the team down. They're sure to do better this year."

Scott nodded politely, "Any other teams?"

"Well, there's also the Hollyhead Harpies. My aunt Ginny played on that team for a few years, so I'm a pretty big supporter of them."

"Wow, really? That's pretty cool. Do you play?"

Rose nodded enthusiastically, "Yes! I can't wait until next year when we can try out! I hope I can make it! I've been training for years! Of course, it was on my dad's old Cleansweep, but he said he'd get me a good broom for my birthday this year!"

"A Cleansweep?!" Scott laughed, "You should take good care of it. That could count as an antique now. What position are you going to try out for?"

"Okay, okay, okay!" Cat cried suddenly, "Can we _please_ discuss something other than bloody Quidditch?!"

Alex laughed, and said "I didn't mind."

Cat rolled her eyes and turned to a girl in our year who was sitting next to her. Remembering her duty to learn everyone's names, Rose leaned back and called to the girl.

"Hey, what's your name? I'm trying to learn everyone's."

The girl looked Rose up and down with her eyebrows raised.

"Sloper," she replied curtly, "Eliza Sloper."

"Oh...okay. Nice to meet you."

The Gryffindor boys waved as Rose did, trying to make the situation less awkward.

"Thanks." Eliza turned away.

"Well then..." Rose said, feeling slightly defeated, "I was just trying to be nice. I didn't know anyone's names this morning."

"Hey, you knew mine!" Alex said, "I told you last night in the boat!"

"Ah...yes, about that..." Rose shrugged apologetically, "Was there a last name to go with that, Alex?"

Alex rolled his eyes and grinned, "Prewett. Alex Prewett. Not related to any Quidditch stars though, sorry."

The name sounded familiar to her.

"My grandma Molly's maiden name was Prewett! Are we related?!"

"Uh...no. My dad's a muggle. I'm a half-blood. It must just be a coincidence. My mum's a witch though, her name's Cho Chang."

He looked shocked as Rose burst into hysterical laughing.

"What's so funny about that?" Alex asked defensively.

"Oh nothing. Just that your mum was Al's dad's first girlfriend. My dad told me about how awkward it was to be around them."

While everyone laughed at the shocked expression on Alex's face, they continued their lunch. Rose continued talking to them enthusiastically and for a while, forgot about her worries. When lunch was over, it was time for their last class of the day.

"History of Magic..." Cat read off the timetable.

"Sounds invigorating." Scott muttered, looking bored.

It turned out to be everything but invigorating. The most exciting thing that happened was when their teacher, who was a ghost, entered the classroom through the blackboard. It turned out his name was Professor Binns and he was easily the most boring person Rose had ever come across. The group listened for all of five minutes before they sank into a deep stupor and didn't come out of it until the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

"Finally!" Scott cried, throwing his hands in the air as they headed towards their common room, "We're free!"

"What about that Binns? I thought maybe I'd die from boredom and become a ghost myself."

Rose nodded in agreement at Alex's statement. The only thing good that had come from that lesson was that they'd all gotten a good nap. They reached the Gryffindor common room and gathered in some armchairs by the fire. Rose broke into animated conversation with Scott and Alex again about Quidditch. Cat rolled her eyes and went to talk to a friendly second-year girl. For the first time since she'd gotten there, Rose felt really happy and at home, laughing and passing the time until dinner with her new friends.


	4. A Small Adventure

Albus sat next to Scorpius in a corner of the courtyard. It had been three weeks since the start of their first year. Three weeks since the Sorting Hat had placed him into Slytherin.

If only he and Scorpius had been put in Gryffindor with Rose, he though to himself.

But there was no way that would have worked. The Gryffindors might have accepted Albus with open arms, but they would have shunned and hated Scorpius even more than the Slytherins. Albus had lied when he had told Rose that the other boys were nice to him. Scorpius was the only one. Ever since he had been placed in that house, he had been the subject of jeers and taunts and pranks, and he didn't know why. They mentioned something about his father. He couldn't remember much though, because at the time, they had been levitating him by his ankles around the chandelier in their dormitory. He knew that if Rose found out about the way they'd been treating him she'd be furious. He felt himself shudder at the thought of what she would do. Apparently Scorpius noticed this action.

"Are you thinking about the other boys?", he asked Al glumly.

"Yes..." Al replied with a long sigh, "More specifically what my cousin would do if she knew what they've been up to."

"Now that's reason for worry!" Scorpius scoffed, "Mate, don't get me wrong, you're a great friend, my best friend in fact, but...that cousin of yours...I'm sorry, but I really can't tolerate her. And that's nothing compared to what she thinks of me. I mean, did I tell you what she did to me the other day when we were leaving Transfiguration?"

Albus rolled his eyes and sighed again, "Yes, Scorpius, you told me. She jinxed your shoes to tie themselves together every time you took a step so that you'd trip. What you failed to mention was that it was because your spell had misfired and burnt off the hair on the back of her head. She claimed you'd been 'laughing like a great buffoon and deserved to look like more of one than usual'. I really don't want to get involved in your little war, Scorpius..."

"It wasn't my fault!", Scorpius cried indignantly, "And besides, Professor Nodus fixed her hair in a heartbeat. It's not like she had to stay like that for long. Sure she got laughed at a bit, but she was fine in the end. If she hadn't been sitting near me so that she could tell me I was doing everything wrong,-"

"I know, I know! I was there, remember?", Al threw his hands up in the air, irritated with his two friends.

Really, ever since they'd met, all they'd done was criticize and mock one another. True, Rose had most definitely started it. But Scorpius had risen to the occasion of tormenting her back with a great amount of energy. As much as he loved the two of them, he was having trouble being around them at this point. If it hadn't been for the fact that the boys in Slytherin disliked Scorpius too (though, admittedly, not nearly as much as they disliked him), he would have started spending time with other people. Not that there were any other people that he knew of. There was Rosie's friend, Cat, but Al didn't feel like spending time around Rosie at the moment either, and the two girls could almost always be found together.

Al pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked around the courtyard at the other students milling around. Then he realized Scorpius had been talking the whole time he hadn't been paying attention.

"Couldn't believe it!" he was ranting, with a furrowed brow under his white blond hair, "She threw that one bloke, Wyatt Martin's, toad at me. It was covered in some sort of slime. You weren't with me that time! She only did it because I had made fun of her hair. I mean really, mate, does your cousin ever try to tame that mess? And she had the nerve to make fun of my hair. I mean, really-!"

"Okay!", Al stood up suddenly, making Scorpius nearly jump out of his skin, "I forgot that I really need to go to the library! I need to do research on a um...personal problem I'm having. I'd really rather go alone. It's pretty embarrassing. So uh...I'll see you in the common room later. Bye!"

And with that he scampered off without waiting for an answer or pausing to look back at Scorpius's face. Through the doors and up the stairs, past groups of students mingling, Albus made his way to the library on the fourth floor. At least there he could be safe from his two best friend's constant bickering. Unfortunately, peace was further off than he would have hoped.

"DUCK!", came a yell from out of nowhere.

Without thinking, Albus threw himself on the stone floor. He was just in time. Something large flew through the air above him, flashing and sparking brilliantly. It made it a few feet past the spot where he lay and then exploded with a bright red flare. Albus covered his head with his hands and waited for it to stop. He'd recognized the flash immediately. He was going to kill his brother.

"Sorry, little brother," came James's voice from behind a suit of armor, "We did tell you to duck though."

Up above, the school poltergeist,Peeves, was cackling and, having finished the mayhem with the fireworks, was now trying to chuck china cups at Albus's head. Al tried to stand up to dodge them but was unsuccessful.

"Ow!" he cried as one landed on his head and shattered.

This only made Peeves cackle louder. Having exhausted himself of teacups, he moved on to throwing the saucers.

"Oi!" James yelled, stepping out from behind the armor, closely followed by their cousin, Fred, "That's my brother. Stop it now or I'll hex you, I swear I will. Now bugger off, we don't need anymore of your help. Fat load of good you did us."

He waved his wand at the poltergeist threateningly. Peeves stuck out his tongue and made an extremely loud, rude noise before zooming off, dropping all the remaining china on the floor with a tremendous crash.

"Sorry, cuz," Fred shrugged apologetically, "We'd asked him to stay on the lookout for Slytherins. We didn't know it was you."

Now that there was no more risk of objects being thrown at his head, Albus drew himself up to full height (which was significantly shorter than his gangly brother and cousin's).

"And you think that's okay then?" he asked furiously.

They merely exchanged confused glances.

"Well...we said we were sorry," James shrugged, "What else do you want from us? We weren't trying to get you. Just the other Slytherins."

"Well I'm a Slytherin!" Albus fumed, "So next time, maybe you should disregard the fact that I'm your brother and not warn me. I should count as slime just like the rest of my house!"

And with that he stormed off down the corridor, leaving James and Fred wearing very confused expressions on their faces. He didn't stop stomping and fuming until he'd reached the fourth floor.

Idiots, he thought to himself, no wonder Slytherin is hated by everyone. All the other houses come to school with misconceptions about his house and they automatically act horrible towards them. So, in response, all the Slytherins act horrible back. They were automatically hated by everyone else and it wasn't fair. They held back on him, but what if it had been Scorpius walking there? They would have blown a bloody rocket in his best friend's face without a second thought.

He was so buried in his thoughts that he didn't realize he had made it to the library already. Not until he ran headlong into something solid enough to knock him flat on his back. Or rather, someone.

A Ravenclaw boy was standing over him peering downwards. Another boy who very closely resembled him stood just behind him. Both were wearing completely controlled expressions and gazing down at him with looks that clearly stated that this was nothing out of the ordinary to them. The one standing behind the other stepped forward finally and held out his hand to Albus to help him up.

"Here you are, good chap," he smiled slightly, "You won't find anything of interest down there on the carpet."

Albus, now on his feet, peered at the two curiously. They felt oddly familiar, but he couldn't quite decide where he may have seen them. Maybe in one of his classes, but...he couldn't be sure. They really did resemble one another. They had to be related. The two both had blond hair and the exact same blue eyes; eyes that seemed to have seen everything, though they could hardly have been older than Albus himself. The one in the front had longer hair, combed neatly to one side with a poised, reserved feeling about him. The other boy, the one who had helped him up, seemed a bit more...daring. His hair was cut shorter and stood on end and also, Albus noted, sported a fang earring dangling from one ear similar to his uncle Bill's.

"Now, to introductions I do believe," said the longer haired one, "I, my dear sir, am Lysander Scamander. And this, this is my brother-"

"Lorcan Scamander, at your service." the other boy grinned, "We're twins."

"I never would have guessed." Albus replied, amused, "Wait...Scamander? I'm Albus Potter. My parents have friends with that last name. Oh! I remember you now! You were at a family reunion once. We played together all day. Do you remember?"

"Ah...yes. I do now." Lysander replied distastefully, "I brought my pet crup and your older brother tried to flush it down the toilet."

"Yes, I remember that too and I apologize." Albus muttered, "I remember him ranting about getting justice for the garden gnomes your crup had been "terrorizing". It's the only time I've ever seen my brother support animal rights. It was really just to cause more mayhem though."

"Is he still as devilish as he was before, good chap?" asked Lorcan, with an imp-like smile of his own.

"Oh um..." Albus fumbled for the right thing to say, "He's...James...he's...gotten a bit better over the years. A bit..."

Lysander glanced up at Albus's dark hair with a disapproving look.

"Really?" he asked, "You might know that the ends of your hair are a bit fried, good friend, and you still smell of smoke. I surmised that only James Potter and that cousin of yours would have done such a thing."

"Well..." Albus laughed feebly, "There are a few others who would too...namely some of the boys in my own house, unfortunately."

Lorcan rolled up his sleeves and smiled mischievously, flashing sharp-looking canines.

"If ever you need anyone to come to your defense, good chap, just call upon me! My brother here doesn't like to fight, but I never could resist a good duel, especially against someone who deserves a nice hex."

"I'll keep that in mind." Albus replied, not sure how to feel about that.

"Well," Lysander nodded, "We must be off now. We've been researching the process of spinning Demiguise hair into an Invisibility Cloak. Fascinating, really!"

He nodded curtly and glided through the nearest gap in the bookshelves. His brother paused to turn back at Albus, still with that demonic looking smile on his face. Lorcan gave a sort of salute and spoke a farewell before he too parted.

"Nice to meet you, good chap! Remember to take me up on my offer if that Montague and his boys want to stir up trouble with you. So long for now!"

And with that, he left Albus standing alone in the labyrinthine walls of books.

What an odd pair, he thought to himself as he moved off in any random direction. And...how, he wondered, had Lorcan know it was Montague and the others in his year who had been tormenting him. He hadn't specified that they were in his year. Albus shuddered. There was something strange about them. He found himself liking the two of them, but he couldn't quite make heads or tails of them.

As he moved through the library, he found himself feeling overwhelmed by the number of books held there. The aisles never seemed to end.

"How can there really be this much knowledge stored here?", he wondered aloud, scanning the ancient, gold-embossed spines as he passed.

The names started blurring together after a time and he was considering heading back to the entrance hall to see if lunch was nearly ready, when something caught his eye. On a shelf to his left, at about eye-level, there was a beautifully bound book that seemed to be almost glowing in the soft light on the library. The cover was a deep, midnight blue specked with shining, silver stars. In slanted letters, engraved down the spine were the words, "The Stars and Their Origins".

Albus felt strange as he began to flip through the pages. He'd always loved star-gazing at night and they'd always given him comfort when he needed it, but he realized once he started reading that he didn't really know anything about them. He didn't know the different constellations or how far they were away from him. He didn't know what they were made of or how many moons orbited each planet. He had only just begun learning that in his astronomy class and he quickly learned that they had only just brushed the tip of the iceberg.

Entranced by the knowledge held there, he found a table and kept reading on, losing himself in the old, yellowing pages.

* * * * * * *

"Hey, you! Boy! You can't sleep here. Library's closed. I should fetch Mr. Filch for this."

Albus looked up at the speaker and nearly fell backwards out of his chair. Leering over him was what appeared to be an ancient, vulture-like woman. Not only did she look like something conjured from one of his brother's horror novels, she was also very angry with him.

"Expect me to put your books back for you, eh? It might interest you to know that these are books, not pillows, boy. Get out and go to your common room, before I call Mr. Filch."

Albus stood his ground as he shook inwardly.

"Ma'am?" he asked, as she began to stack his books angrily with her wand, "I'm very sorry. I fell asleep reading. Please don't put them back. I was wondering if I can check them out. These books are fascinating. I'd really like to finish reading them."

Madame Pince turned and scrutinized him behind her glasses with her bird-like eyes. Albus felt his knees shaking but he tried to retain the most determined, but honest face possible. Then, without a word, she beckoned at him with one of her aged fingers and levitated the stack of books down the aisle and through one of the openings. Gulping, Albus followed slowly and almost regretfully. Silently, they moved through the dark library as Madame Pince navigated the maze of shelves with ease. Finally, Albus found himself before the desk at the entrance.

He found himself standing there awkwardly as Madame Pince scrutinized him one last time and then proceeded to check the books out to him. As her wand levitated the stamp onto the pages, the sound rang out like gunshots in the library. Albus busied himself with looking at the windows and realized that it was indeed night time.

Just as he was wondering how in the world he was going to get back to the common room without getting detention, he realized the stamping noise had stopped. Looking up, he saw his stack of books sitting on the counter. Madame Pince was now disappearing back into an aisle, levitating books back onto their shelves as she went.

"Thank you!" he called quietly after her.

Albus took the books down off the counter and, as he did, noticed a slip of parchment sitting on top. In the half-light, he read it and realized it was a permission note signed by her. He could get back without getting detention.

"Thank you." he said again, quietly, and headed off towards his common room.

* * * * * * *

"Albus! Where have you been?" Scorpius cried out as Albus entered the common room, "Mate, I looked everywhere for you!"

The room was empty, save for his best friend. It must've be later than he'd thought.

"I know...I'm sorry. I fell asleep in the library and Madame Pince woke me up."

"Ugh..." Scorpius pulled a face, "That old buzzard? She hates me. Claimed one day that my hands weren't clean enough to grace the pages of the quidditch books in there. Of course...your cousin had spilled ink all over my hands earlier that day, so she might have had a point..."

"She gave me a pass so I could get here without getting detention." Albus said, showing the parchment to his friend.

"Weird!" Scorpius turned the paper over again and again, as if not believing it was real.

"I know, right?" Albus replied, "But look at all these amazing books I found! I can't believe how interesting this is! I've never really been that into reading because that was usually Rosie's area of expertise, but Scorpius! These are so wicked."

"Great. Very cool." Scorpius yawned, "Well, mate, now that I know you haven't been eaten by a troll, I think I'll head off to bed. It's pretty late, you know? And we have lessons tomorrow."

"Oh yeah..." Albus sighed, "Charms, first thing, huh?"

Nodding tiredly, Scorpius helped Albus gather his books up and the two boys headed down the hall to their dormitory. Albus lay awake for a while longer, staring out the window into the light in the water outside, shifting and casting reflections onto the walls inside. Then slowly, he drifted into dreams about flying to the moon and seeing the stars more closely, out in the peaceful quiet of space.


	5. Halloween

"Trip me again and I'll hex you, Weasley!", Scorpius Malfoy sneered at Rose.

As per her usual response, she only sniggered and walked off with her Gryffindor friend, Andy Kirke. Scorpius felt a pang of jealousy, which he attributed to the fact that the only person in his house that he had to be friends with was Albus.

Scorpius had expected the other Slytherins to dislike him when he got to school. His father had prepared him for this ahead of time. Back when the Second Wizarding War was taking place, his grandparents had given over their mansion to Voldemort and his cause. By the end of it, however, they had wanted nothing more to do with it and had fled with his father from the scene and had, in the eyes of the other Slytherins, whose fathers had stuck around for a while longer, turned to traitor to Lord Voldemort before his downfall. As hard as it was for him to deal with the other students in his house, it was harder still for Albus. Apparently no one had ever told Albus who his father was or what he had done. How he had never heard anything about it, Scorpius had no idea, but he hadn't had the heart to tell him. It wasn't his place to tell that story; he'd have to be told by his family. But he didn't know how much longer he could keep his mouth shut...Albus believed the other boys hated him because his parents had been Gryffindors. Scorpius felt very sorry for him, but was conflicted on what to do about it.

Sighing loudly, Scorpius made his way out of the Transfiguration Courtyard and began to walk aimlessly through the corridors. Lately, all Albus had been wanting to do was go to the library and learn about astronomy. Scorpius was very happy for him since he'd found a hobby, but he'd been seeing much less of his best friend lately and the idea of sitting in that gloomy library, memorizing star charts didn't appeal to him in the slightest. Since then, he'd been searching the castle for an empty room where he could go to be alone. The last time he'd been in the library with Al, he'd checked out Quidditch Through The Ages, and was looking forward to reading it. Scorpius couldn't wait until next year when he could try out for the team. Ever since he was a child, his father had been training him. He'd never tell Al, but his father had let it slip a couple of times that he was training him so that someday, he could beat Harry Potter's son at it at school.

Good jod, Dad, he thought to himself with a smirk. Bet you never thought his son would end up in Slytherin too...

As he'd been thinking this, he'd been coming around a corner and, not paying attention to his feet, had trodden on several Jack-O-Lanterns that had been placed on the floor. Several of the other students passing by pointed and laughed and Scorpius heard Peeves cackle before zooming off to torment some other poor soul.

Angrily, Scorpius started dragging his feet across the floor, trying to disperse the pumpkin muck that was covering his shoes. How could he keep forgetting it was Halloween? The feast was all anyone could talk about. And with Peeves, of course, it was always going to be a trick and never a treat.

"Sorry about that" came a girl's voice, "I was about to magic that away when you stepped in it. I wish they could do something about that damned Poltergeist."

Scorpius turned and looked at the speaker and saw what he could only describe as a goth couple sitting at a table with a game of wizard chess between them. They were both several years older than him and had black hair and had somehow managed to dress darkly, even in their uniforms. Maybe they were dressed up for Halloween?

"Oh uh...it's okay." he said, "I don't really care. My day's been so boring that that was almost a blessing."

"Are you a first year?", the boy asked and Scorpius nodded, "And you've gotten used to Peeves already? Took me years. The name's Joey by the way and this is my girlfriend Sadie. We're sixth years. You play wizard chess?"

"Uh...no, not really. Never had anyone to teach me the rules. I've always wanted to try it though."

"Well come on over and sit down then." Joey grinned and pulled a chair out of thin air with his wand, "What's your name by the way?"

"Scorpius." he replied, slightly in awe, "Scorpius Mal-"

He stopped himself and they both looked at him quizzically.

"Uh...just Scorpius."

"Cool." Sadie smiled at him, then they proceeded to finish their game.

As the two began to teach him the rules, Scorpius snuck glimpses at them every once in a while. What were sixth years doing talking to him? What's more, he had looked at the ties they wore and seen that Joey was a Slytherin and Sadie was a Ravenclaw. And yet they were dating. What were a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw doing together? Scorpius thought that they were both very cool and didn't want them to get tired of him, but he didn't really know what to say. He also hadn't wanted to tel them he was a Malfoy for fear that they'd hate him like the rest of his house.

"So, now that we've told you all the rules, what move would you make next, Scorp?" Joey grinned, motioning at the board.

Scorpius saw the opening that Joey was referring to and slid the black bishop across the board to take the white queen and the two of the gave a round of applause. It had been a simple, obvious move, but they had set it up just for him.

"Good job, Scorpius! You catch on fast!" Sadie smiled at him.

"Oh, it was nothing really." Scorpius began, but Joey shooed his comments away.

"Sure it was. Most people can't learn the rules that fast. You caught on quick. Say...Sadie here is the captain of the Wizard Chess club here at Hogwarts, you know? Maybe you'd like to join?"

Scorpius was speechless.

"Yeah!" Sadie exclaimed enthusiastically, "Maybe you'd like to give us a trial run! We play chess and it's a good place to make friends. And Joey here is almost always there, as long as it doesn't interfere with Quidditch. We could teach you to play like a champ."

"Quidditch?" Scorpius perked up, "You play Quidditch, Joey? For Slytherin?"

"Oh uh...a bit." Joey smiled, "I'm not the best or anything, I just love to play it."

"Oh hush!" Sadie cried, "Scorpius, he's just being modest. He's the captain for a reason!"

Joey shooed this fact away and pointed at the book Scorpius had been carrying, "Great book. I take it you're into Quidditch too?"

When Scorpius nodded in awe he patted him on the back and continued.

"Hey, next year, you should try out. Slytherin could always use good players. I'd say..." he scrutinized him for a second, then "Seeker?"

Scorpius nodded again enthusiastically.

"Our current Seeker is a seventh year, so be sure to try out next year. I can help you learn some techniques beforehand if you want."

"Sure!" Scorpius was practically speechless, "Thanks!"

"Okay! Now, enough about quidditch for now. What do you say about joining chess club this year?"

"Sure." Scorpius smiled and nodded at them both, "It sounds like fun to me."

"Yes!" Sadie cried and some passing students scoffed at her, but she didn't seem to care, "We meet here in this room over here at 7:30 on Fridays! Welcome to the club!"

"Thanks! I'll certainly be there!"

Joey looked at his watch and observed the moons and stars moving about there, "Alas, my friend, it's time for the start of the feast. Want to come down to the Great Hall with us or are you catching up with friends?"

"No! I'll come." Scorpius grinned.

The couple magicked the chess board away and the three of them made their way down to the Great Hall, remarking at the mouthwatering smells that were coming from it. Joey said goodbye to Sadie at the Ravenclaw table and, to Scorpius's surprise, ushered him over to sit next to him. Albus followed with a confused look and sat down on the other side of Scorpius.

"Hey guys!" Joey motioned to several students sitting by them, "This is my friend, Scorpius. He wants to try out for the team next year and I was thinking we could take him to the field one practice and see what he's got."

"Sure thing!" a couple of them smiled at him.

"Oh, uh..." Scorpius tapped Joey on the shoulder and pointed at Al, "This is my best friend, Albus. Al, this is Joey. He's captain of the team and his girlfriend is head of the chess club. I met them both earlier when you were in the library."

The older boy reached around Scorpius and patted Albus on the back, grinning as Albus meekly waved. The tables before them filled suddenly with food, groaning under the weight and as they ate and discussed quidditch, Scorpius noticed Al staring out the window every once in a while, past the giant Jack-O-Lanterns and live bats, at the sky. Scorpius laughed and began to ask him how his day had been, trying to make him feel included in the conversation like Joey had been doing for him. As they talked, out of the corner of his eye, Scorpius noticed the other boys in his year gawking at them from a few seats down. Joey turned around and waved slightly obnoxiously at them and then stuck up a conversation with them both again.

As he was sitting there with his new friends, feeling at home for the first time since he'd arrived there at Hogwarts, he couldn't help but think that things were finally looking up for him and Albus, there, under the stars that his friend loved so much.

_Hey, thanks guys for reading! I know I'm not the most consistent of writers on here, and for that I apologize. Please leave a review telling me what you thought and any suggestions on where to take the story! Thanks :)_


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